There can’t be many places in the world more spectacular than the Dingle peninsula. There also, as I discovered on my way to Brenda and Cormac’s Kerry wedding, can’t be many places in the world as far a drive from Dublin as the Dingle peninsula! Thankfully I had left home in plenty of time and my arrival in Ballydavid was greeted with a dramatic improvement in the weather – something that persisted right through to the start of dinner. That, of course, allowed for some of that dramatic landscape to be used in the photos later in the day.
My start with Brenda and bridesmaids Maria, Joanne and Órla was in the comfort of a calm house, with the bride in the very capable hands of Donna Mc Carthy Dingle Bridal Hair and Annette O’Brien Makeup Artist.
Across the bay, Cormac was getting ready in his homeland of Ballyferriter, and I caught up with him and groomsmen Denis and the two Donals at nearby Carrig Church before the ceremony. This being the heart of the Gaeltacht, much of the day was celebrated as Gaeilge, including most of the ceremony and much of the speeches. Given my quite rudimentary Irish I did my best to follow along, but An tAithair Ó Cadhla was kind to me with his prompts during the ceremony!
With the “I do”s done, and hands shaken, we quickly ran through the family photos before jumping in the cars and heading for Dingle, with a stop at nearby cliffs overlooking the iconic Three Sisters across the bay. I was delighted when Brenda and Cormac were happy to run with my suggestion of making their way down to the pier for one last photo before we headed for our next stop – officially known as Moriarty’s, but locally known as Jonathans – a shop/pub with immense charm, and shelves lined with baked beans, nappies, kitchen roll and salt!
15 minutes, and a pint (for them, not me!) later and we were on the road one last time heading for Dingle Skellig Hotel where Aisling and the rest of the staff took good care of everyone.
Speeches were spread either side of the meal, with Brenda’s brother Edward speaking in Irish first on behalf of the family, and Maid of Honour Maria making a very amusing speech in English before dinner, and the groom’s dad, the groom and the best man speaking after the meal, again in Irish and English.
My evening finished with the start of the dancing, with Deuces Wild really getting the party going right from the start with a fantastic opening set of songs – a party that had all the signs of running into the early hours of the morning.
